The nationalist Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutiun) has said it will seek to depose President Serzh Sarksyan if protocols aimed at normalizing relations with Turkey are ratified by Parliament, news reports have said.
The Dashnaktsutiun statement was circulated earlier this week after Armenia’s Constitutional Court on Tuesday rejected opposition complaints over the legality of the government push to restore relations with neighboring Turkey. The ruling means accords calling for the establishment of diplomatic relations and the opening of the Turkish-Armenian border can move to Parliament, although there is little sign they will be adopted soon.
Dashnaktsutiun interpreted the court ruling as a de facto invalidation of a provision of the Turkish-Armenian protocols that commits Armenia to unequivocally recognizing its existing border with Turkey — something that is strongly opposed by Armenian nationalists.
The Dashnaktsutiun statement said the Sarksyan administration must incorporate the Constitutional Court comments into the protocols in the form of “reservations” when it submits them to the National Assembly for ratification. Armen Rustamian, the de facto head of Dashnaktsutyun’s governing body in Armenia, said the pan-Armenian party will launch “a process of regime change” if Sarksyan refuses to do that. It is already trying to drum up “serious public support” for that effort, he said. “If the people of Armenia, the society do not accept these concerns, we will remain alone,” Rustamian told a news conference. “But I am sure this is such an issue that our people, understanding the essence, nature and purpose of regime change, will support this process and taking that step will be increasingly easier than it was yesterday.”
Meanwhile, Murat Mercan, head of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Commission, said a parliamentary debate on the protocols was unlikely to take place soon. “We will begin debates on the protocols after relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan improve further,” he told the Anatolia news agency on Friday. “Why should we bring them into Parliament when chances for their rejection are so high and ruin all the efforts [for their implementation]?” Mercan said.
